As warfare has progressed through the ages, weapons more and more sophisticated have evolved. While the earliest weapons were extremely rudimentary and capable of killing only a single one of the enemy's soldiers, modern weapon technology has enabled a single combatant to fire a multiplicity of projectiles in a very short period of time. Such weapons have drastically increased the effectiveness of a single soldier, therefore.
The automatic rifle is a weapon that can fire a number of rounds in quick succession. Such operation is accomplished in view of the fact that the functions of firing and reloading are performed by the weapon itself. These functions include firing the cartridge, withdrawing the bolt, ejecting the spent cartridge case, cocking the hammer, forcing the bolt forward, and inserting a fresh cartridge into the chamber ready to fire. The energy for performing these functions is provided in one of two ways: by the pressure of the gas produced by the firing of the cartridges (in gas operated weapons) or by the recoil of the weapon itself.
Another type of weapon which has altered the face of conventional warfare is the grenade launcher. The M79 grenade launcher is a shoulder fired weapon which has been used by the U.S. Army now for some time. While the effectivness of hand-thrown grenades is limited in both distance and accuracy, weapons such as the M79 improve the accuracy with which a grenade can be projected and certainly greatly extend the distance over which grenades can be projected.
The M79 grenade launcher is a dedicated weapon. That is, it is used for one purpose and not in combination with other weapons.
More recently, the M203 grenade launcher has been developed and implemented as a weapon system in the arsenal of the armed forces of the United States. The M203 is the successor of the M79. The desirability of the M203 as compared to the M79 resides in the fact that it fulfills a requirement for a rifle/grenade launcher 25 package, whereas the M79 was only a dedicated grenade launcher.
The M203 is a weapon system that, when operational, is attached to an M16 rifle. Although relatively light in weight, it nevertheless does add some additional weight to the rifle with which it is used. Optimally, the weapon carried by an infantry soldier should be as light as possible at any particular time.
The present invention is both a method and apparatus for allowing selective and rapid configuration and deconfiguration of an automatic rifle as a grenade launcher. As such, it solves problems existent in the prior art and satisfies requirements dictated by the need for light weight weapon systems.